Apple Plans to Break Into Hollywood with Original Movies and TV Shows

Chances are, you’re currently reading these words on a phone, computer, or tablet manufactured by Apple. Maybe on your morning commute, you listen to music downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. If you are an on-the-go sort of person who’s not afraid to be made fun of, you may have an Apple Watch wrapped around your wrist right now. The tech giant’s influence has permeated so many facets of modern life, and as we patiently await Apple’s big foray into the burgeoning field of teledildonics, they’ve announced plans to plant their flag on one more heated battlefield.

Streaming video is the new big thing, the golden goose that laid Netflix’s six-billion-dollar egg, and Apple wants a piece of the action. The Wall Street Journalreported this morning that by the end of 2017, the company hopes to bundle original video material along with subscriptions to its Apple Music service, all in one. The item cites plans to break into both the TV series and full-length movie markets, though any movie projects wouldn’t come until later in the future. (The article describes the movie plans as “preliminary.”) This announcement comes hot on the heels of Apple’s decision to purchase a series-length extension of the “Carpool Karaoke” videos popularized by talk show host James Corden. That would presumably be part of their original offerings (the word “original” bestowed charitably here), though their projections stretch far wider than that.

The WSJ piece states that Apple doesn’t hope to compete with the extensive collections of available video options offered by the likes of Netflix or Amazon; more that they believe a helping of video will give Apple Music an edge over Spotify and other music-only streaming subscription services. In the months to come, that choice could precipitate an even greater sea change. If this works out, music streaming and video streaming could start to glom onto one another like amoebas devouring smaller amoebas. Strange times are on the horizon for Silicon Valley.